Overview
Bloomberg BNA quoted Don Willington in an August 31 article titled “Harvey Victims Can Access Retirement Money More Easily: IRS” and Lisa Zarlenga in an August 31 article titled “Three Tax Benefits Harvey-Battered Businesses Should Consider.” The articles discuss how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is offering victims of Hurricane Harvey the ability to take hardship distributions or borrow funds from their retirement plans under a streamline process. The IRS says that taxpayers—including businesses—in the disaster area have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax returns for the year before the event occurred.
Ms. Zarlenga says that this “effectively allows the taxpayer to get a refund of a prior year's taxes,” providing cash flow relief.
Mr. Wellington says, “It shows they're being responsive, and this is a common-sense, welcome type of thing to do: providing relief for hurricane victims and their families.”
The full articles can be read at Bloomberg BNA and Bloomberg BNA (subscription required).
